Sports Illustrated features Detroit Lions on cover, says team is ready for Super Bowl appearance

(CBS DETROIT) — The Detroit Lions have never made it to the Super Bowl, but could they this season?

Sports Illustrated thinks they have the potential to make a Super Bowl appearance, according to its football preview issue featuring an article titled "Drive to Revive: The Resurgent Lions: Right Team, Right Town, Right Time." The coverage centers Amon-Ra St. Brown, Jared Goff and Penei Sewell. 

Sports Illustrated writers Greg Bishop and Connor Orr examined the success of the Detroit Lions' historic season and its potential to make it to the Super Bowl this year.  

"They're ready to grab the wheel from Campbell and drive this franchise straight to New Orleans in February, to the Lions' first Super Bowl," said Bishop and Orr in the article. "This offseason Goff, Sewell and St. Brown all signed massive contract extensions, securing themselves as tentpoles of the franchise for years to come."

This comes after the Lions had their best season in decades, receiving two playoff wins in a postseason for the first time since they won the title in 1957. 

The Lions saw a 34-31 loss to the 49ers in the NFC championship, ending their successful season one game short of what would've been the team's first Super Bowl. 

The team is one of four NFL teams to have never played in the Super Bowl to date, but the Lions have played every season of the Super Bowl era. 

"We know we can win a Super Bowl," St. Brown said following the season. "We have the team. We have the coaches. We have everything we need in this building to win a Super Bowl. That's our goal. That's our focus."

If a Detroit Lions player had said that years ago, people would likely have laughed and shrugged it off, but they aren't the "same old Lions" anymore. 

"Detroit drafted Decker with the 16th pick in 2016 and made the playoffs in his rookie season. The following year, after a 9-7 campaign, executives fired coach Jim Caldwell and life as a Lions fan got much worse. The franchise's descent-into-darkness period commenced. 2017: last place in the NFC North. Same in '18 ... and '19 ... and Patricia, Caldwell's replacement, didn't even last through 2020, when the team surrendered 142 more points than it scored," the Sports Illustrated writers explained. "Of course, Detroit fans weren't unfamiliar with a bleak football narrative. In 2008 and '09 the Lions won twice, combined, logging two of the worst statistical seasons in history. Fans needed time capsules to find the franchise's last postseason victory (1991), which heading into last season was the league's longest active drought."

Head coach Dan Campbell and general manager Brad Holmes joined the team in 2021, moving the program toward success.

"We are thrilled to have Brad and Dan under contract for the next four seasons," said Detroit Lions Principal Owner and Chair Sheila Hamp when the team extended Cambell's and Holmes' contracts through the 2027 season. "They have been the driving force behind the rebuild of our football team and the success that we have enjoyed. The continuity they provide for our football program will continue to be the key to our future success on the field."  

The duo is attributed with spotting key talent for the team and rewarding their work, which is underlined by the massive contract extensions Goff, St. Brown and Sewell received. 

Campbell has delivered on his goal, launching the team in the direction of a Super Bowl appearance.

"In the beginning, there was so much anger. So much failure. Now, all he promised is in sight," the article said.

The Sports Illustrated writers nodded to Detroit's resurgence in recent years. When Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan was elected in 2014, he told voters to judge his performance in the role based on whether or not the population grew.

Last year, Detroit's population grew for the first time since 1957, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau. Officials worked on addressing the city's vacant building issue, either demolishing or renovating them. This year, the Michigan Central train station reopened on June 6 after being closed for the last 36 years. Ford purchased the building in 2018 to restore it. It's no longer a working train station, but it includes a mixed-use space for employees, entrepreneurs and students. 

"In 2013, I set off every speech on saying I was born in Detroit in 1958, and the population of this city has dropped every single year I've been alive," Duggan said after he announced the city's population growth. "And so, it did take longer than I would've hoped. Not only did it go up, we jumped from 29th to 26th place, nationally ... and it's exciting to see Detroit climb the list of most populated cities, and not sliding further down."

Duggan also said pride in local sports was one of the reasons the city saw this growth. 

"We've got all four professional sports teams downtown, we've been rebuilding beautiful parks, and there's a spirit in the city that people just want to be a part of," Duggan said.

Detroit hosted the 2024 NFL Draft, setting a new attendance record with more than 700,000 fans making their way downtown for the event. 

Fans have the chance of catching the Lions play in Detroit this weekend, for their final preseason game. The Lions will face the Los Angeles Rams on Sept. 8 to kick off their regular season, and Detroiters and fans across the country will see if the team snags a chance for a Super Bowl appearance. 

The full article can be viewed on the Sports Illustrated website.